Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Up to this point so far we have looked at The Rule of Christ on earth affirmed by the fact that Satan, the one who many thought ruled was bound and cast into the abyss Making Christ the Ruler on earth.

It is not that He wasn’t before this, but that now it is perfectly clear who the real ruler is.

Then we looked at the thought that Christ’s rule on earth is assisted by the saints.

We saw that very clearly in our text and we identified them as Saints from OT, NT, and up to this time of tribulation.

Now we turn to The Rule of Christ approved by the final defeat of Satan and his attendance in the lake of fire, v.7-10.

You might think, ‘approved, how does that impact Christ’s rule.

Well I was struggling a bit for a word that started with the letter ‘A’ to help with the outline.

But the word ‘approved’ doesn’t only have the meaning as many think of as consent.

It also means to ratify or to sanction or to prove or demonstrate.

That is how I am using that word here.

The fact that Satan and his army is defeated and cast into the lake of fire to be tormented eternally is proof positive that Christ is SUPREMELY SOVEREIGN over all creation.

There is nothing that is outside of His control, knowledge or purpose.

He truly does rule over all.

Now we have The Rule of Christ approved by the final defeat of Satan and his attendance in the lake of fire, v.7-10

Just a cursory reading of the book of Revelation ought to give you enough evidence to convince you of this truth.

God is moving everything towards His purpose.

He even uses the choices of men and Satan to His advantage.

Surely you see in Scripture that God lets kings and people follow their desires yet their desires do not thwart His plans or purposes, but rather they fall into those plans.

Nothing takes God by surprise and makes Him go to plan B. There is no plan B with God.

There is only Plan A and it has been the same plan since before the foundation of the World.

My hope is to help you see that in our text today.

I think we should be able to see that in three ways:

All goes according to God’s timing, not our own

All beings (Satan/people) go according to their desires

All ends up according to God’s design

So then we go to the first one.

All goes according to God’s timing, not our own.

I think first and primary here is that God has His own schedule and it is not often in sync with ours.

We want things done now.

I am sure that Abraham would have preferred Sara get pregnant with Isaac 25 years earlier than she did.

I am sure that Joseph would have rather shot up to Prime minister of Egypt without all of the hardships and nonsense in between.

Surely, fullness of times for many would be sooner rather than later, but part of growing in the knowledge of God is learning to wait for His timing.

Well we have his timing in our text don’t we?

Look at verse 7, And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison.

Not a minute or a year early.

There will be no early parole for good behavior or because the abyss is full up and they have to make an early release of those who have been on their good behavior.

No, not at all.

Only when the thousand years is complete, finished, time is up.

Only then will Satan be released from his chains and imprisonment.

That is what we see here is it not.

Satan is not able to shorten his stay for one moment.

In fact, he has known this was the end for centuries.

He knew his time was short when he was cast out of heaven.

Isn’t that what scripture says in He has great wrath toward the inhabitants of the earth, because “the devil is come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has but a short time.”

So even against the landscape of eternity a thousand years is a short time.

Do we not see this very truth unfold in those events I already spoke about with Abraham and Joseph.

Or even in This book , remember when the martyred saints cried out to God, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

and white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled’

You see all things are to come about according to the time God has set for them to happen.

That ought to give us great comfort.

How so?

Well, to begin with you were born at the time God decreed you would be born.

You live in the family, at the time of history He chose for you.

You also have a time to die.

You have an appointment with the Lord at some time.

Whether believer or unbeliever you have a resurrection ahead of you in which you will be before God as a believer to be with God and as an unbeliever to be separated from God.

But that time is coming and you cannot stop it.

We have seen the unbelievers call on God’s creation to hide them from the Creator.

But there is no hiding from God.

You cannot stop the inevitable.

Now I am implying a sort of fatalism at all.

But you can no more stop these events in your life than you can stop time.

You maybe able to stop your watch but you cannot stop the seconds of your life from ticking off at the rate of 60 seconds per minute.

You and I should be redeeming the time as best we can.

Stop wishing it away or trying to hurry it up as you kids wish you could do so you can be grown up like the rest of us.

No don’t do that.

Make the most of it.

One of the things this teaches us very clearly is that even if you were Satan you could not prolong your reign in this life one minute.

But you can make the most of it by using your time to worship and serve God

I am sure I could go on with this, but time is getting away from us.

As John Wayne was known to say in his movies, “We’re burning daylight.”

So then We see the Sovereign Rule of Christ on earth in the fact that all goes according to God’s timing.

Satan is loosed when the thousand years are complete.

Satan is loosed at the end of the thousand years.

when they were complete.

Now a second point that needs to be made with regard to the Sovereign rule of Christ on earth is that

2. All beings (Satan/people) go according to their desires.

v.8, 9a

What I mean by this is that God let’s Satan and people follow the desires of their heart.

Now this is conundrum for all of us to consider.

We have been speaking of the Sovereignty of Christ/God.

Nevertheless, that doesn’t nullify the responsibility of man.

We see that in at least two ways in our text:

(1) in his purpose to deceive the nations.

Satan's purpose has always been to deceive.

He did that with Eve and he is the father of lies.

He implemented rebellion on through Cain and it continues through today and into the end times we are speaking of.

His business is always one of deceit.

He is a master of deceit.

He can change himself into an angel of light and almost deceive true believers into believing him.

In verses 7,8 he uses the future tense like a prophet, but in 9,10 he uses the aorist like a seer.

(WPNT)

So what?

what does that mean in my interpretation?

Satan's purpose has always been to deceive.

He did that with Eve and he is the father of lies.

He implemented rebellion on through Cain and it continues through today and into the end times we are speaking of.

It will not just be to deceive them to the truth, but to gather them together to annihilate the Lord and His people.

And that leads me to the second point here.